A German Wedding, Part Two

Okay, so I was supposed to finish telling you about Germany the other day, but I've done a load of extra hours at work and have been very busy, so I haven't had time up to now.

So ... on Saturday morning we all met up at Robert and Andrea's house - Colin had been up and out early to go with Dominick to get the wedding car, and help with a few errands. By the time we all met up, Robert and Andrea had gone off for a photoshoot. We all travelled in convoy off to the Hops Museum where the ceremony was to take place. On Friday night, Andrea had mentioned that there were a couple of poems that she had translated into English, and would I mind reading one of them at the ceremony? Actually, I would have preferred not to (don't like being in the spotlight), but I was delighted to be asked. The plan was that Dominik would pass the texts on to me, but we were on the way to the Hops Museum when Robert rang me saying that Dominik had forgotten to take the texts with him, and when we'd dropped Pete, Bernie and Cheryl off, could we drive round to where they were waiting to pick them up? So, we dropped everyone off and set out to find them. Except we couldn't find them. Robert had told us to go 200 yards up the road and then turn right ... but there was nothing remotely approaching a turning for about a mile ... he kept ringing, and he was getting more and more agitated, and in the end I was almost shouting at him to calm down, it was going to be fine. Eventually we found the turning (no way was it only 200 yards up the road!), and pulled up next to their wedding car. Now, nobody had been told anything about Andrea's dress (though she did whisper to me on Friday night that it was red). I think my jaw hit the floor! She looked absolutely amazing, as you can see ...

So we drove back to the Hops Museum with the texts, and joined everyone else in the walk to the Chapel. I hadn't realised at the time that the Chapel was past where we'd just been ... it was a long walk (about 20 minutes) from the Museum, and it was very very warm. Eventually we got there though, most of the walk was uphill (urgh!), and then along came the bride and groom. It was an idyllic setting - an open air wedding outside of a tiny little chapel on the top of a hill, in a very peaceful part of the countryside. Seating was unfortunately scarce, but I chose to stand off to the side (with Sean) so that I had a good vantage point for lots of pictures of the bride and groom. As I found somewhere good to stand, I noticed that Dominik and Julian were stood right at the back. I managed to (almost) drag Julian to the front, and made him sit with Colin and Ethan - after all, this was his Mum's wedding and it was only right that he should be at the front.

The wedding ceremony was lovely - in both German and English. I managed to have funny whispered conversations with Pete, who had also been asked to do some of the poetry reading, and who was absolutely terrified at the prospect. Pete's relationship with the Kent family goes back a long way - he is Robert's best mate, and he was also Colin's electronics lecturer when he was at College. He is very much a perfectionist, a very complex man, and very funny. He told me at the start of the wedding that he felt like he knew me very well and that I was like part of the family, so I asked if that meant I could slap him now? So the ceremony wound on, with a very funny thing happening. Right in the middle of everything a hiker appeared and just barged through the ceremony, looked into the Chapel, took a photo and then hiked away. We discovered another German custom - family of the bride and groom stand in a circle, and a long ribbon is passed around the circle ... the wedding rings are then threaded along the ribbon around all present, for us to hold the rings and think happy and loving thoughts for the bridal couple. All too soon it was time for our readings - there were two pieces to be read, both in German and in English. I literally had to hold Pete's hand and drag him over to the microphone, bless him. Finally the wedding was over, and there was a champagne reception, during which Robert and Andrea 'received' their guests. It was lovely. It gave me a real lump in my throat to see so many people with such affection for them.

Eventually it was time to make our way back down to the Hops Museum for coffee and cake (yum!). Unfortunately for me, it was well over 30 degrees by that time, and it took forever, as Ethan was tired and lagged far behind. By the time we got down to the bottom of the hill I knew I was going to be battling sunburn. Never mind, the cake was good! Andrea's friends had all baked sumptuous cakes for the occasion, and there must have been about 20 or more to choose from.

Later on it was time to head off for the reception, which was held back in Friedrichshafen in the local dance studio. We had a wonderful meal (Italian), plenty of wine was flowing and we were seated with Cheryl (who if I didn't mention before is Colin's aunt/Robert's sister), and Pete and Bernie; so the conversation flowed too. It was around midnight I think when we left, as Ethan was asleep on his feet almost, and Cheryl, Bernie and Pete were leaving early in the morning for their flight back to England.

Colin again was up early on Sunday, to pick Pete, Bernie and Cheryl up from their hotel and take them to Robert and Andrea's to say their goodbyes. We could and should have been there too to say goodbye, but after a hectic few days we were all exhausted, so we enjoyed a lie-in, before strolling from our apartment to their house a little later (Colin had helped to take everyone to the station). Sunday was, on the whole, a quiet day. Lots of people were in and out of the house all day, food was never ending (leftovers from the wedding), and the champagne was flowing yet again.

Anyway, that's enough for now ... more holiday anecdotes another time. I'm tired, and I want to check email and maybe knit a bit more before I head off to bed. Ciao!